"Been Laborin' Here All These Long Years"

Mid-Hudson Library System was thanked at a press conference in June by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of Columbia County and the Black Legacy Association of Columbia County for providing a small Outreach Grant over 20 years ago for a project that has now grown to be part of the New York State curriculum for grades 4-8.

The curriculum guide 'Been Laborin' Here All These Long Years and Fruits of Our Labors' gives children a chance to study African-American history and culture using the lives and experiences of Columbia County residents. RSVP Executive Director Marcella Beigel (who is currently a member of the MHLS Outreach Advisory Committee) coordinated the volunteers who transcribed lengthy oral interviews with African-American elders and created an archive of African-American life from Columbia County newsletters published between 1840 and 1915. The project, and the archive it has created, is known as BLACC, Black Legacy Association of Columbia County.

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program matches volunteers with community needs. Programs in addition to BLACC include RIDE (providing transportation to seniors for medical appointments); Fire Pro Check (for home safety); and Edith Casey Stocking Fund (for Christmas distributions to the needy). Learn more at http://rsvpcolumbiacountyny.org/

MHLS Announcements
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, MHLS Coordinator of Member Information has become certified as a Sustainable Building Advisor. The 9-month certification program covered areas such as Energy Efficient Design, "Green" Materials Selection, Indoor Environmental Quality & Health, Water & Site Design and Operations & Maintenance. Rebekkah also recently became a LEED Accredited Professional. LEED is the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design," an internationally recognized green building certification system. Rebekkah welcomes questions on the topic of sustainable library buildings at any time, from what can be done to "green" your library in its current state or for future expansion plans: rsmith@midhudson.org or x239.

Resource Sharing & Millennium
Millennium 2009a upgrade Tuesday, July 14th: The 2009 release comes in two parts. The first part is an "under the hood" update that should have little or no impact on library staff. Changes will be made on the server to upgrade the relationship structure of data which will be needed to support the upgrades coming later in Release 2009b. System staff will begin the download very early that Tuesday morning and hopefully have the system back in place before the first library opens. There will be no need for any changes to your staff PCs other than some brief downloads on your first log in. There will be no observable changes to Millennium or how it works after the upgrade. We will post the progress on the Millennium list to let you know where we are in the upgrade. We require that you DO NOT LOG IN on JULY 14th without first CHECKING THE MILLENNIUM LIST. As soon as we can, we will send a message to inform you that you can log in.

"Gigcat" moves to Secure-Only Access beginning September 1st, 2009: In an effort to tighten security to our Gigcat / Millennium server we will no longer allow access to the server through Telnet after September 1st. We will be requiring a "Secure Shell connection (SSH)," which encrypts information passed between you and us (including your login and passwords). The SSH protocol provides synonymous capabilities as telnet over a secure connection. Any SSH client could be configured for connection, however we believe that the free PuTTY client, which is easy to use, will serve the minimal needs of viewing your bounced email. Instructions for installation and use of the PuTTY client can be found at…http://midhudson.org/resource/millennium/downloads/Instructions/Securegigcat.pdf

Programming
The Adult Programmer's Users Group met last month and discussed best practices for evaluating program success. During the session the group brainstormed what is most valuable to ask on a program evaluation form, they took a look at a half dozen forms done by other libraries around the country and picked what they liked and didn't like from them. Then they did a "green dot" exercise - each participant got three dots and put them up on the flip chart next to the items on the "things we liked" page. The "collective mind" came out strongly in favor of three questions to ask program attendees:
1. How did you hear about this event?
2. Satisfaction level
3. "Would you recommend this program to a friend?

Youth Services
The 11th Annual Fall into Books Children's and Teen Literature Conference will take place on Friday, October 23, 2009 at Marian Shrine in Stony Point, NY. John Grandits author of Beatrice Black Bear, a monthly cartoon for Click magazine will be the main speaker, along with Marsha Howard, Coordinator for Poetry in The Branches for Poets House. Each attendee can choose to take part in two book discussion groups, as well as purchase books by John Grandits and have them signed by the author. Networking with colleagues from around the Hudson Valley is another benefit of this excellent conference. MHLS along with the Ramapo Catskill Library System and the School Library Systems from Dutchess, Orange-Ulster, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster BOCES are the sponsors of this event. Early bird registration price: $60 if you register by August 7; fee is $70 thereafter, with registration ending October 2nd. Register early to not only save money but also be assured a place in the discussion groups of your choice. Access the registration form online at http://midhudson.org/department/youth/fall_into_books.htm

Administration & Management
Policy Best Practice: Meeting Room policy If you allow outside groups to meet in the library's space, consider a clause that provides time (5 minutes or less) for the library director or designated library representative to welcome the group to the library and say a little bit about services or upcoming programs at the library they might be interested in. This makes the most of your ability to offer space to the community and gives you the opportunity to introduce people in the group who might not be familiar with library services to all you have to offer.

The Future of the Internet: Key findings on the survey of experts by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that asked respondents to assess predictions about technology and its roles in the year 2020:
- The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
- The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
- Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
- Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
- The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
[Learn more at http://www.pewinternet.org]

PAGE 3: "Around the System - June 2009"

PAGE 4: July 2009 Calendar: http://calendar.midhudson.org/

Member Libraries are welcome to submit items of interest and job openings to the MHLS Bulletin: bulletin@midhudson.org. The MHLS Bulletin is available on line at http://midhudson.org/bulletins/main.htm.